Leaders in Malindi Sub County have attributed the emergence of juvenile criminals in Malindi town and its environs to poor parenting and abuse of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, bhang and muguka.
The leaders, who were addressing Malindi town residents during the Madaraka Day Celebration and the Cleopatra Grounds expressed anger at the emergence of gangs of youngsters that were terrorizing wananchi using knifes and machetes.
Led by Deputy County Commissioner David Lusava and area Member of the National Assembly Amina Laura Mnyazi, the leaders urged parents to instill discipline in their children and avoid the urge to bail them out whenever they are arrested by the police for committing felonies.
Lusava asked parents to be good examples, urging them not to send their children to buy drugs for them and this would introduce the youngsters to the drugs, leading to addiction.
He told Malindi residents to zealously oppose drug trafficking and abuse just as they have been holding demonstrations to support the muguka ban.
“Those who have been demonstrating against muguka, why don’t you also employ the same zeal and demonstrate against narcotic drugs, whose use has had great negative effects to your children,” he asked.
Mnyazi lamented that parents of children arrested by police for engaging in criminal activities were giving leaders sleepless nights, demanding that the leaders use their positions to have their children released.
“If your child is arrested for engaging in crime, please stop nagging leaders to have them released. Let them be dealt with in accordance with the law,” she said.
The legislator said she was ready to use her own money to facilitate the police the intensify patrols in affected areas and said she would not listen to any parent who whose child will be among those arrested.
She supported the move by Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro to ban the entry, transportation, sale and use of muguka is the county saying the stimulant had contributed immensely to the emergence of the criminal gangs.
She said she would support a Bill set to be introduced in the National Assembly by Deputy Leader of Majority Owen Baya on the regulation of muguka.
Malindi Town Ward Representative Rashid Odhiambo called for a crackdown on pharmacies selling anaesthetic chemicals that he alleged were being used by criminals to spray to sleeping residents before breaking into houses to steal.
Anti-Narcotic Drugs Ambassador Famau Mohamed Famau called for concerted efforts in the fight against narcotic drugs and muguka in Malindi and the Coast region in general.
